Thoughts/Experiences with Nissan Frontiers?

TJL said:

Bad: gas mileage. My carputer stays about 15.7. It will average up a bit if im on backroads doing consistent lower speeds(55-70) instead of commuting in traffic with the most oblivious drivers that central FL has to offer. 

This will kind of suck... but at the moment the Mariner's engine is running such that it doesn't get much better mileage than that and the QX4 tops out at like 17mpg in all-highway use, so the Frontier's mileage, while less desireable than some of its contemporaries (like the Ranger's Ecoboost 4-banger) won't be too much of a change.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Ours is likely to see off-roading only in the sense of driving on crappy gravel roads to our cabin/trails around the Gorge... and most likely the QX4 will get tapped for that most times unless we need to haul something that won't fit into the back of the QX4 and requires the truck's bed.

I have had mine as high as 17.2 with real light driving. Not much better but its something. 

I have gotten as much as twenty mpg between Odessa and El Paso with the cruise set at seventy five and no traffic.

I’m with TJL on the positive comments.  I replaced our 08 Pathfinder SE 4x4 with a 2015 Frontier Crewcab SL 4x4 last November.  Only glitch so far has been the driver’s heated seat was non-functioning when purchased, but they replaced it under warranty.  It was bought as our family tow vehicle (boat, pop up camper) and I would have bought another Pathfinder if the current version (2013+) wasn’t based on the Maxima with the CVT.  

The only unexpected expense I encountered other than normal maintenance with the Pathfinder over 5 years of use and 80k miles was replacement of 3 wheel bearings, but I now consider this a Nissan wear item as my wife’s Infiniti also likes to eat wheel bearings.

Cheers 

Gordon

Jason McRoberts said:

I have gotten as much as twenty mpg between Odessa and El Paso with the cruise set at seventy five and no traffic.

 

I took my Pro-4X crew cab from Tulsa to Dallas to do training when I had it. 

It didn't touch 17 mpg with the cruise at 75. 

In reply to z31maniac :

That was actually in the old one which was two wheel drive and manual.  I honestly try not to think about it with the four wheel drive automatic I have now.

In reply to Javelin :

you mean the design of having a trans cooler in the radiator?  Like pretty much every automatic equipped vehicle today? 

Edit: I’ve touched 20 in my Xterra, lifted with skids at the time, but that was on all 65mph roads with pretty strict enforcement, and about a 15mph tailwind. When I had the stock front bumper on it and less lift, it would usually do 16-17 on the highway. It gets its best mpg between 65 and 70, which doesn’t happen much on highway driving around here. 

I’ve test driven the frontier and the Tacoma back to back twice when I was buying new trucks and both times I picked the Tacoma. First was in 2007, 4cyl 5psd 2wd regular cabs, and second was last year looking at 4wd V6 automatic crew cabs. To me the Tacoma’s just drive better and are more comfortable places to live. I’m averaging 19-21mpg in my current V6 Double Cab 4x4. 

I've had a '98 Tacoma (2.4L, 2WD, 5spd extended cab) and now have a '13 Frontier  (4.0L, 2WD, 6SPD king cab) and prefer the Nissan. The newer Tacomas went backwards from a driver interface perspective from the first gen Tacomas... can't stand their pedal placement/seating position. My Dad owns a second gen Tacoma (4 cylinder prerunner '09)... which I can't stand driving because of pedal angles, the clutch engagement characteristics... and that dang floppy shifter - feel like a freaking bus driver. My First gen Tacoma was better in all areas than the second gen...  Frontier has much better pedal angles, nice clutch engagement, and shifter more like in my FR-S... no floppy wiggling and nice notched feel into gear.

Bought the Nissan with little over 80k on it for good price, actually had to fly to North Carolina for it and drive it back home as the 4.0L, 2WD, KingCab, 6spd was not easy to find... most 6speed manuals were either incorrectly listed automatics or the crew cab. Will say I did had brake failure with it last year (complete loss of brake system, thankfully after slowed down for a turn) and the dealer experience is something I never want to go through again... that dealership absolutely lost my business (between killing the less than 1 year old Odyssey battery [drained it down to ~3V], taking 3 months to get ABS system module from Japan), and then coming back and saying 'yeah...master cylinder needs changing too' [original thing I told them I wanted checked, which they said was 'good'] - first and last time I gave them a chance, which I was willing to do only because of a airbag calibration recall that I planned to have them do sometime in the future (possibility of airbags going off in certain offroad situation because of lean angles and vibrations...) and then had the brake failure... which I'm pretty sure was just a master cylinder seal issue)

So yeah, I ain't on speaking terms with my local Nissan dealership but am with my Toyota one (did the valve spring recall on my FR-S and everything went well with no issues on anything, plus got new spark plugs and stage 1 Exedy clutch set installed for very reasonable pricing. They also replaced the ECM under warranty when it failed, no problems whatsoever with them for that - just a short less than 2 week wait for part on a new model.)

So for me, I'll probably never set foot in a Nissan dealership again, but I do like the Frontier over the Tacoma so far... That 4L VQ motor is no joke... Toyota's V6s are just catching up power wise to it, another reason I wanted the frontier over newer Tacoma... Torque! And after having owned a torquey V6 for a few years, I'll never go back to a 4 cylinder truck... 4 cylinder trucks are anemic, everything feels like a struggle for them. A trailer on a 4 cylinder is FELT in everything it does to the truck...engine just struggles way too much. And unladen with no trailer there's still a massive felt difference - even being as heavy as it is. The Frontier boogies when you get on it - will embarrass an FR-S in acceleration. And it corners well too, once suspension is changed out. Stock suspension was a little shot at 80k+ miles, not in too bad a shape... but you could tell it was worn down some, and they was a pretty big disconnect between the front and rear reactions. Went with OME (Old Man Emu... not OEM...) offroad suspension kit designed specifically for the second gen Frontier and man is this truck so chuckable in the corners even with about a 2.5" lift. Rides like my FR-S - firm but compliant and extremely well balanced and stable, MUCH better than stock. Love the OME suspension, well worth the money.

Frontier has been what I wanted in a truck so far, something small enough to handle well but also capable to do light truck duty and light offroad ability. I like that it has a fully boxed frame, 6500lb towing capacity, responsive throttle and handling, and is reasonably priced used. I'm not missing Tacomas one bit. I'd put the Frontier every bit as good as a Tacoma, for those who want a more affordable truck with a bit better torque and can live with a simple interior (I quite like it actually, even with all the hard plastics) .

We're very happy with our Xterra, sure there are some known issues but easy to check over before purchasing.   We get 17-19mpg on the highway

The coolant mix issue can be easily fixed by changing the routing of the trans cooler hoses.   It is easy enough to check the coolant and trans fluid, and if its shifting rough that's another indication.

We also had an issue with the Evap system setting a CEL, which was fixed by removing the charcoal canister and blowing out the lines, canister and "filter" that is inline to the vent hose.  The vent hose is routed in a way that it can suck up dust and choke flow enough to set a fault. It's also possible the canister vent valve fails to set a similar fault.

Compared to the other mid-size trucks and SUVs they are a great value, if you don't mind the simple interior.  A comparable 4-runner or Tacoma is nearly 1.5x-2x used value, and don't offer much more in terms of capability (torque, mpg, towing).

Don't want to keep people from posting good info here for others, but we ended up buying a Chevy Colorado earlier this week after she (amusingly) saw one on the lot of the Nissan dealership and liked it far more after driving it. Thanks everyone!